Local History and Santa Cruziana


Since its founding in 1965 Special Collections has participated in documenting California history and has assembled collections of regional historical materials with a unique focus on the achievements of Santa Cruz County and the City of Santa Cruz.

Its collections of pre-statehood documents, scrapbooks and clipping files, photographs and photo albums taken and compiled by local residents and professional studio photographers, and publications by local authors and institutions make Special Collections a major research site for the study of Santa Cruz history and Santa Cruziana artifacts.

Among its most important collections are the papers of pioneer families such as the Porter Family, the archives of key California cultural figures James Houston and Lou Harrison, and the papers of contemporary political figures such as Santa Cruz supervisor Hulda McLean and State Senator Henry Mello.

Major archival holdings with searchable indexes and full text documents include:

  • • Mary Lea Shane Archives of the Lick Observatory
    Archives of the Lick Observatory, located on Mt.Hamilton include records from 1870-1945, correspondence, copybooks, diaries, logs, papers of the Observatory’s directors, and extensive photographic holdings.

  • • Hihn-Younger Archive
    The archive of Santa Cruz County entrepreneur F.A. Hihn (arrived CA. 1849 d. 1913) and attorney Charles Bruce Younger (1831-1907.)

  • • Leon Rowland Research Collection
    Materials from the research collection of Leon Rowland (1884-1952) local historian and editor of the Santa Cruz Evening News and the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Includes a searchable database of the Leon and Jeannette Rowland File Card Index.

  • • Oral Histories of the University Library Regional History Project
    Oral histories of important regional figures from business, the arts, government, public service, and UCSC.

Special Collections' California history material is supported through funding from the Hugh Stuart Center Charitable Trust.

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Page revised 3/9/07